Episode Transcript
<p><!--block-->Alara Sage (00:00.93)<br>Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Ecstatic Woman podcast, where we activate and inspire women in their power, in their authenticity, in their bliss, in their hell yes, right? I am your host, Alara Sage, the ecstatic life mentor. I'm the founder and creator of creator consciousness, helping women to live their most ecstatic, most blissful lives. You know, fellow ecstatics, we all need guidance in life.<br><br>We all need to feel safe and supported. We all need to feel almost like somebody has our back, right? And who is that somebody? Who is that somebody? Sometimes we look outside of ourselves for that support. The most powerful connection we could ever have is to that own inner voice that we have, that own innate wisdom that can see us, that knows us, right?<br><br>better than everybody else, better than sometimes even our own consciousness, and is really here, always and forever serving our highest good. And that's our soul's voice. That's our higher self's voice. And today on the show, we have a wonderful guest who this is part of her mission is to help people to connect this and help them to express this. Today we have Mandy Shakatano, who is a spiritual empowerment mentor.<br><br>She helps women to align to their energy and deepen their spiritual connection and really connect to the soul's voice that we're talking about here today. Mandy, thank you so much for joining me here today.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (01:47.167)<br>I am so delighted to have this conversation. It is one of the things that lights me up most in the world is being able to talk about and share some of these concepts and just go really deep. I love going deep. I have a Scorpio stellium, so that's what I'm all about.<br><br>Alara Sage (02:04.374)<br>Yes, I'm Mars and Scorpio, so I'm all about depth. Let's do it. Let's go deep. So when we were connecting, we were talking about the higher self and soul's voice. I would love to have you express what is the soul's voice. How does that show up for you? How do you experience your soul's voice?<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (02:27.007)<br>Hmm. What a great starting point. I think that it's tricky, because I think the term soul is something that we use a lot in a lot of different contexts. We say, this is soulful, and I'm tapping into my soul, and the soul of a thing. And I think sometimes it gets diluted, and it gets watered down, and we don't even really know what we're talking about until you have an expi-<br><br>experience with the soul and then all of the sudden it becomes clear. So I also just kind of want to preface this by saying that everything I say is a suggestion that my experience might be different from someone else's experience and so I always say take the parts that resonate with you that is part of connecting with your soul and you can leave the parts that aren't right for you. So<br><br>My experience with the soul and my knowledge of the soul is that it is a separate entity that acts almost as a bridge between us and the divine. So through lots of different spiritual traditions, we hear that humans are a reflection, a piece, of the divine here in the world. And that is true. And there's a very human part of being human, right? We're not just.<br><br>purely spiritual beings. And so the soul is that sort of divine part that go between the human experience and the higher, more divine experience. And so we are able to actually communicate with the soul and the soul has many different ways that it communicates with us. And we can just tap into those.<br><br>at different points in our life in various ways. So right now, the main way that I'm connecting with my soul voice is through channeled writing. That is the most accessible, the easiest for me, but it can come through in a lot of ways. It comes through in the way, in feelings in our body. Some people, depending on what clairs you associate with, what your spiritual gifts are, some people experience it through smell. Some actually hear the voice. Some are more like me, I'm...<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (04:50.711)<br>they're cognizant, so it's just a knowing. Like I just know things and I didn't even realize that was a gift, that was soul speaking with me, until a few years ago actually when I started verbalizing those things instead of just holding them inside and people being like, wait, how did you know that?<br><br>So there are so many different ways to connect with soul, but what I think is the most important thing that I wanna underscore here is that it is a separate entity and it's something that we have to consciously tap into and cultivate that relationship with.<br><br>Alara Sage (05:26.366)<br>Yeah, it's interesting to me that you call it a separate entity. What do you mean by that?<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (05:30.579)<br>Hmm. What I mean by that is that<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (05:35.795)<br>We are not just soul, right? There is more to being human than just soul. And there is more to the soul than the human experience. And so I like to think of it as separate as something that's living within us and that is engaged with us, but that it's not our totality and we are not its totality.<br><br>Alara Sage (05:59.658)<br>Yeah, I think that's a beautiful way of seeing it. Because I personally don't see it as separate. But when you say of the totality, that really to me emphasizes a little bit more what you're referring to. Yeah. And I really love how you use writing, because I used to use writing a lot to connect to that version of myself. And let's talk a little bit about that for the listeners. How have you tapped into that for yourself? How did that show up for you?<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (06:13.057)<br>Yeah.<br><br>Alara Sage (06:29.773)<br>use automatic writing to connect.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (06:33.375)<br>Well, I have to credit one of my mentors, Alisa Romeo, for this one. She wrote a beautiful book called Meet Your Soul. And it's one of those books that I found many years ago. I read through, I tried the practices, and I just wasn't ready for them. Because in that moment I was like, oh, this doesn't work for me, and I just kind of put it back on the bookshelf and forgot about it. And then a few years later, down the line, I picked it up again.<br><br>And I started to connect with the practices again. And one of them is this channeled writing practice. The way that she describes it, she creates a great entry point there. I find that when I'm teaching people to connect with soul voice, it's about ritual, really. And the ritual can be anything that resonates with you, anything that makes you feel both grounded. And for me, I need to feel connection with earth and connection with.<br><br>the cosmos in order to access that. It's a very physical and also energetic visual experience. So I have shortened it and simplified it to the point where it's like I take a big deep breath of Earth. I take a big deep breath of heaven. I imagine my soul almost as a glowing light hovering above my head.<br><br>And then merging with me and usually once it does my signal. I always have little you know like signs tells That you're tapped in that you're connected and my little tell that I'm tapped in is a big yawn and Then from there she has the floor. She's speaking<br><br>Alara Sage (08:09.43)<br>Hmm.<br><br>Alara Sage (08:13.782)<br>Beautiful. Yes, and so when you're working with her in that way, are you asking her questions or are you just open floor as far as letting her just talk, speak through you?<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (08:25.803)<br>Both. If there's something that I'm working through, if there's something that's heavy on my heart, I will ask questions. Often though, the prompt is just, what do I need to know today? And when I leave it open-ended like that, I'm always, it's such a magical experience because there are things that come through that are beyond our scope, our peripheral vision, so to speak. And so I feel like I just get more of a complete.<br><br>Alara Sage (08:36.983)<br>Hmm.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (08:56.039)<br>more of a complete view, not that we'll ever have a complete view, of things that are happening sort of behind the scenes, beyond what we can see.<br><br>Alara Sage (09:04.594)<br>Yeah, absolutely. I used to do the same thing, and I just used to really love it because in the context of, just as you said, things would just come through that you hadn't been thinking about in that moment. And it's just so beautiful because it's really quite obvious.<br><br>that it's not your mind speaking because as you know, as I said, things will come through that it's not that you've been contemplating them or asking them or even thinking about them and they come through you and it's like, oh wow, you know, I hadn't thought of that or I hadn't been thinking of that and it's just so beautiful to open your awareness and<br><br>Really expand yourself into that prompt of, yeah, what do I need to be aware of today? What wants to come through? For me, it's really moved into a lot. I have claircognance. I have clairaudience. I have clairvoyance. I have all the clairs, actually. And I think all of us do, in all honesty. I believe we all do. And we have our ones that we're better at, but as we increase those gifts and those connections, they all open up. And so...<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (09:55.627)<br>Right.<br><br>Alara Sage (10:14.198)<br>For me now, it's very much visual and voice and feel of the body and that knowing. And it all comes in at the same time. And I'm always in that conversation with my higher self, my soul. But that's not always easy to teach people to do that from that level. And so I think always giving people an entry point, like you're doing, is so profound. So you mentioned ritual, right? And<br><br>What I believe you were saying was your ritual was to sit down, right, and take those breaths and connect and visualize and then the yawn and that was the ritual to then continuing into the writing. What other ways have you helped people or how do you help people define that ritual for themselves? Because ritual is so powerful, isn't it?<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (11:02.367)<br>Yes, I love that you asked that question because it is so different for everyone, the entry point that is. So in terms of helping people discover that, typically at the beginning of my work with someone, I will have them make a list of things that make them feel really connected. Whether that is connected with nature, connected with spirit, source energy, connected with themselves. They just make a big<br><br>long list and we call it the menu. And so they have their list. I guide them through a meditative experience where we sort of open up the door, we invite them to meet their soul, and they get to dialogue with their soul, and they get to ask questions. Often I'll have them ask questions during that experience about how the soul wants to communicate, how...<br><br>is the easiest way for them to connect. And then after that meditative experience, we go just playfully using their list to find what works best for them. So we treat it as a big experiment. We try different things. And I am also a Gemini son. And so I'm very much about variety.<br><br>So I like keeping that menu intact. It's never just the one thing, the one way for me, but it's every day kind of feeling into, okay, what do I need today? What feels right today? What feels good today? And taking something off the menu. So for me, ritual is just about doing an action, taking an action with intention in a very focused way. So the ritual can be anything.<br><br>And always, I think, when we take the pressure off of it a little bit and we allow it to just kind of flow authentically is when we get the best experience.<br><br>Alara Sage (13:02.846)<br>I love how you're defining a ritual, because let's be real, right? Ritual has often had this connotation of, I mean, for one, it has negative connotations to it, but it also just has kind of this intensity potentially to it of like, it has to be this really drawn out thing, or it has to be this really organized and orchestrated thing.<br><br>So when we say instead, as you said, intentional with focus, that really opens a door to what is ritual for you. And I think that's a really powerful thing for the audience and for listeners to start to playfully question for themselves. What is ritual to them? What feels good to them? And how could they take that feel good and turn it into an intentionally and focused<br><br>exercise activity, right? Like, oh, yeah, my body just lit up with that. Like, that's, that's delicious, right?<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (13:57.619)<br>Nice.<br><br>Yeah, I'm glad you said that because sometimes I think the connotations around ritual make it seem inaccessible. Like, oh, that's for someone who's so far advanced on their journey and I need all this time. But even just the simple act of taking a deep breath can be a ritual if your full presence and your full intention is there. Absolutely anything can be created into a ritual. It is the most accessible.<br><br>Alara Sage (14:07.65)<br>Yes.<br><br>Yes.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (14:25.895)<br>spiritual practice that there is. We just don't know it. We just don't practice it.<br><br>Alara Sage (14:31.854)<br>Hmm. Yes. So let's go a little bit deeper into that, because I just feel like there's so much beauty here. Because the truth is that for me, for a long time, I didn't believe, just because I didn't have the awareness or I didn't believe that I was doing ritual.<br><br>because, again, of my perception of what ritual was. And so when I hear other people do, oh, I'm doing ritual, it's like, I do sometimes I do ritual. But I don't feel this big draw to do it. And more and more, my higher self just starts showing me how ritual I actually am, how it's literally like almost every single part of my day is very ritualistic. That's a word. I think it is, right? Ritualistic? Yay.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (15:15.976)<br>Yes, it is.<br><br>Alara Sage (15:19.31)<br>And yeah, really beginning to redefine that for ourselves and open up the availability to what it means to us. And so let's come back into, you said, with intention and with focus. And you were talking about presence beautifully. So let's dive into how that, if you can bring in some examples or how you would explain that to somebody, of how do they create intention for a ritual.<br><br>and then have that focus and presence to carry forth.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (15:53.015)<br>Beautiful question. I love what you said there too about just your perception of what it meant beforehand. I find that in the sort of spiritual community that we see now, particularly online, there's a very similar aesthetic that a lot of people have. And I think because of that,<br><br>many folks believe that in order to be spiritual, you have to be a certain way. I always joke with some of my friends about, oh, it's wearing a flowy flowered dress walking barefoot in the woods. It's all white. It's vegetarian. It's all of these things that we think it has to be. And that makes us, in turn, believe that, oh, well, we can't be that. I can never be that. That's too hard. I don't want to make those changes that's<br><br>Alara Sage (16:24.844)<br>Mm-hmm.<br><br>Alara Sage (16:33.894)<br>Yeah, yes.<br><br>Alara Sage (16:47.37)<br>Or just doesn't feel good, right?<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (16:48.919)<br>Right, right. And so one of my things that I'm hot on is that anything is spiritual. Just like anything is a ritual, anything is spiritual if it's coming from that higher place, if it's the thing that allows you that full expression. And so I'll give you a couple of examples. You know, when we were talking about simplifying ritual, you can make a ritual out of drinking a glass of water.<br><br>connecting with it, being fully present with it, saying, okay, I'm grateful for this glass of water and I'm ingesting it in order to bring nourishment to my body and just taking a sip and really experiencing it, feeling it. That is a ritual. Also, I live in Miami Beach and getting all dressed up with my knee-high boots and my high heels and putting on the makeup and doing myself up, like that can be a ritual and that can be a spiritual experience.<br><br>because it's an expression of who I am, right? It's me allowing myself to be seen in the world in a specific way. And I'm bringing my full intention, choosing each item very carefully. What feels most expressive for me and for this situation that I'm walking into, how do I want people to feel when they encounter my energy this evening, no matter where I end up, right? That is also a ritual. And so it can be something super simple, like taking a sip of water.<br><br>to be something a lot bigger, and it can be things that we don't normally think about as ritualistic.<br><br>Alara Sage (18:24.266)<br>Yeah, I love that. And that was exactly the things that I was doing was like, drinking my water consciously, blessing my food, all of these things that my heart was like, this is all ritual. Like you're living constantly in ritual. Putting on my eye makeup, it's one of the things that I really love is like putting color on my face and like.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (18:33.971)<br>Yeah.<br><br>Alara Sage (18:43.798)<br>Ooh, like I spend time, like I sit down and ask, what color do you want to wear today, my love? You know, and it's like, ooh, let's do some purple. And then I'm like, okay, and then what if we want to go along with that? You know, and it's just really, really joyous for me. And it's absolutely, you know, it's what you were saying of like expressing. But it's really for myself. Like I don't wear, I make up for other people. I wear it because it lights me up. And because in that moment,<br><br>I want to wear purple or that moment I want to wear gold or whatever. And it's like this playfulness that every single day I get to come at it. And I don't wear, excuse me, I make up every single day. But when I do and those days that I don't, that's the days that I'm like, no, I'm good. But every single day I get to ask myself, I don't know, what does it feel like that wants to play today with my, what I'm wearing, with my makeup, with all of those little pieces of.<br><br>how we are expressing and how we are playing with our life. And you brought in the word playfulness earlier on. And it's such an important part of our experience here in humanity is to be playful and to explore that playfulness. I love how we're speaking to playfulness and ritual together, because I wouldn't say those two are commonly put together.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (20:05.919)<br>Not enough. And I even love the fact that you're bringing adornment into the conversation and beauty, because beauty, I've gone through seasons of life where beauty in and of itself is my biggest spiritual teacher. And that is finding beauty in the things that we would normally call ugly. But it's also allowing the more conventional standards of beauty out there to also light us up and be beautiful. It's not.<br><br>Alara Sage (20:10.749)<br>Mm-hmm.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (20:33.955)<br>narrowing our definition of beauty, but expanding beauty and connecting with what feels beautiful for us and allowing that to nourish us, to light us up, to have fun with it, to experiment with it, right? With the adornment, with the color, with the glitz and glam, if that's what attracts you, or with simplicity, if that's what attracts you, right? And I think<br><br>Alara Sage (20:43.874)<br>Hmm.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (20:58.763)<br>Beauty is one of those things that sometimes gets lost in the dialogue of spirituality and ritual because we shame that as being capitalistic or, you know. Exactly, superficial of society, right? All these different outside standards, but beauty is an important element of the divine feminine and of her expression. And when we allow ourselves, when we give ourselves permission,<br><br>Alara Sage (21:08.778)<br>Superficial, yeah.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (21:26.007)<br>to explore that and experiment with that and let it teach us and lead us and guide us. It's just a whole rich world opens up and you're able to find beauty everywhere all of the time. And it's so freaking nourishing. And the soul voice comes out through that as well, to kind of like tie it back in. The soul, you know, we're talking about channeled writing and we're talking about clear audience, clear cognizance, clairvoyance, all of these things. But like you said earlier,<br><br>Alara Sage (21:43.053)<br>Yes.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (21:56.499)<br>When the soul is choosing to speak, it uses the totality of our experience. So I'll find that sometimes I'll tap in to have a conversation with my soul and what will happen is I'll notice my cat doing something. And there's a huge message from my soul in the simple, playful thing that my cat is doing. And so your soul will use what's around you.<br><br>and it won't always look the same. And sometimes it's about what's in your environment. Sometimes like last night I went to tap into my soul. I was asking some serious questions. I was kind of frustrated because I didn't feel like I was getting the answers I wanted. I went to sleep with the prayer on my heart that everything would be revealed. And I woke up this morning and part of my ritual is that I go to the beach every morning and I watch the sunrise and I do a lot of my practices there.<br><br>And as I was walking, I was singing that row, row your boat song. And the line life is but a dream kept dropping in. And I just kept repeating that over and over life is but a dream. Life is but a dream. And I sit down on the beach and all of a sudden it came rushing in. Like that was the answer to the question that I had asked the night before. And all of this other symbolism and poetry kind of poured through me that started with the life is but a dream.<br><br>But I wasn't able to access it last night. I wasn't in the space for it. It was this morning with fresh eyes, fresh energy that I was open and ready and able to receive it. So that is another tip for people. If you put a lot of pressure on it, we were talking about playfulness and expectations. I find that first round that I had with the book that I said I was like, ah, it's not working. It's because I was putting so much pressure.<br><br>and I had expectations of what I thought it was supposed to look like. I wanted these lightning bolt moments and these huge revelations, and I wanted to feel like some other entity was overtaking my body, right? I had all of these thoughts about what it was supposed to look and feel like. And really, it's a lot more subtle. And there are days still that I will try and connect and just not feel it. And that's OK. It doesn't mean that you're failing.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (24:16.639)<br>But usually if I'm not feeling it, that's where I get to get creative and play and say, okay, who do I need to be in order to receive the answer? How do I need to show up in order to be better prepared for what I'm asking for? And that gets to be kind of a playful experiment as well. So I went in a lot of different directions there.<br><br>Alara Sage (24:37.886)<br>No, that was great. It's so funny because you were like, let's wrap it back around. And I was literally going to do that as well. So we were on exactly the same page. And I really adored the part where you said that you stated that prayer to yourself and then went to sleep. Because that is that like, to me, prayer is that, OK, I'm just going to ask for help or for guidance or for clarity. And I think prayer in its truest form has no expectation.<br><br>It's just the calling in, the requesting with the availability to it showing up. And absolutely, our universe, I always say it's the universe constantly communicating with us in all the different ways that we are talking to ourselves. And if we are sincere as to the questions we're asking, and sincere in showing up for the answers, and how they desire to show up, and how<br><br>our soul desires to communicate with us, we will receive them. Over and over and over again, we will receive them.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (25:42.759)<br>Absolutely. Yeah. And they'll come in unexpected ways. I always have a giggle, like have you seen those memes where it says something along the lines of, I asked the universe for a sign, but I didn't like the one it gave me, so I'm asking for a sign-ier sign. I always giggle at that because I can relate so strongly because I think often when we're asking for guidance,<br><br>Alara Sage (25:58.09)<br>I'm going to go to bed.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (26:10.843)<br>I find this happens so often that we actually already know the answer. We're just hoping for a different one. And so that's what I see in those memes is like the universe is confirming the answer that we already know, but that we don't actually want. So we'll disregard that sign. We'll move on to a different one, right?<br><br>Alara Sage (26:15.55)<br>for sure. Absolutely. Yeah.<br><br>Alara Sage (26:32.598)<br>Yeah, I always tell my clients, you know, when they say, I don't have clarity, I'm like, yes, you do. You absolutely do. Ask yourself the question right now. What is the answer? And they tell me, and I'm like, that's your clarity. And they're like, but I don't, and I'm like, yeah, that's that right there, but I don't. I don't want it. I don't know how to take action on that. Whatever it is, that's where we misconstrue the energy. It's not that we don't know the answer. It's not that we don't receive. I think that's so important.<br><br>people to hear is that they do have the answers. They do have communication with their soul. They do have that connection to the voice. Oftentimes, we honestly can be afraid to take action and to hear it and to listen to it. And that's OK, right? To be afraid or to be uncertain or to be in doubt is something that all of us humans.<br><br>go through and move through. And as soon as we recognize, OK, I hear you, and I feel fear, and I'm doubting, and I'm unsure, we've already opened up the energy into the awareness, haven't we? And so now we're ready to start taking the action that's going to actualize that into our space. I wanted to just for fun bring up how you were mentioning the song Row, Row Your Boat,<br><br>My my higher self is constantly bringing in songs and you know, I'd rarely listen to music um, I like a lot of silence and so Songs will just pop into my head out of nowhere And it's always such a delight because i'm like listening to the lyrics in my head, you know<br><br>And I'm like, just laughing because it's like, Oh, yeah. OK. Uh huh. Yes. That's exactly where I'm at. And that's exactly what we're doing or whatever it is. And my partner and I, we play a lot with song. Like we'll be talking and we'll one of us will bust in with a song and then we both jump in and it's super playful. And yet we're like joining the stream of consciousness that is with us in that moment. So I just think it's such a playful way for us to communicate with our soul.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (28:47.027)<br>Yes, it's about finding the flow, right? Again, another example of something that seems like it wouldn't be spiritual, right? Like I'm singing a nursery rhyme song in my head. What's spiritual in that? But it had a big message for me. And I think this really connects to a thread that I wanted to pull on about something else that you just said, which was this sort of...<br><br>Alara Sage (28:56.534)<br>Yeah.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (29:12.935)<br>interplay that we have when you said, OK, you actually probably already know the answer that you think that you don't know. And this really speaks to what I was saying before about the soul being not our totality, right? Where I believe that our intuition, what we call intuition, is soul voice. So I'm going to use those words interchangeably. And so I believe that.<br><br>our intuition or our soul's guidance is what drops in first before our human brain has time to start rationalizing and making drama out of it. And so when people are saying, oh, I'm confused, I don't have clarity, there's an exercise that I do with people around, you know, what's an intuitive yes, what's an intuitive no, because normally when we feel all sorts of drama.<br><br>That is our humanness. Our soul, even though it's something that we might be afraid of, our soul guidance, our intuitive guidance is very clear. There's not a lot of drama around it. The drama comes in when our human voice, our survival mechanism, which we absolutely need, and it's like a wonderful part of us, comes in and starts weighing the pros and cons and making it make sense and trying to rationalize it. And again, all of those things.<br><br>are important and they have a place and we get to incorporate those things. But I think that is where the confusion comes in and we think we don't know the answer because we're almost having this competition between the intuition, the inner knowing, and then the survival mechanism, the ego voice trying to make it make sense. And it doesn't always make sense. I think one of the big characteristics.<br><br>of our intuitive knowing, of our higher self voice, is that it usually doesn't make rational sense. Because rationality is not of the spirit world, it's of the human world. And this is that bridge, remember. So we have to kind of reconcile that within ourselves and create safety around it. Because our humanness does need safety, and we find that in the sensical world.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (31:33.243)<br>And so, you know, once we're years down the line, it's a lot easier to access and take those big leaps and listen to what it is that our inner voice is saying. When we're at the beginning, we have to be really intentional about doing this in small baby step type of ways and allowing that human survival brain, part of ourselves to have a voice, not rejecting it or shaming it, but giving it some support and acknowledgement as well.<br><br>Alara Sage (32:01.374)<br>Yeah, I 100% agree with all of that and the rationalization, the justification, you know, that it can be very intense how the mind will hang on to that. And as you mentioned, it too has a place and it too is beautiful.<br><br>I always say, OK, mind, I hear you. And I really give space to the mind. OK, you think this is illogical, right? Because as we said, it's usually not logical, the intuitive guidance. Sometimes it seems to align with logic, but it's not logical in and of itself. It just so happens to align with logic. And.<br><br>Yeah, so this is not logical. OK, and you feel that. And I just let the mind kind of have its moment. And then I still can make that choice. Do I want to take action in accordance to what the mind is telling me or take action in accordance to what the intuition is telling me? And that's always our own choice. How do you help people? And what would you advise people when you said safety? Because absolutely, it is about safety. I've cultivated that safety of feeling safe to not listen to my mind.<br><br>Right. I've cultivated safety that it's OK if I take steps that are not logical. And really, like really what transforms, what transpires from those illogical action steps that I adore. But what would you suggest that people do to help themselves in those moments where it's like, OK, I have the intuition, the intuitive hit, the soul's voice telling me this. And then my mind is just, you know, just telling me.<br><br>That's crazy. That's illogical. What are you thinking or whatever it's saying? How do you find that safety?<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (33:46.431)<br>Oh, this is a really big question. But one of my favorites, I think that there's, I see it as three pillars, really, to creating and building safety within us. The first pillar is very much about what I call tethering ourselves to our spine. And what I mean by that is that your spine is that unchanging part of you.<br><br>that you can recognize when everything else within you and around you is changing. And it provides a safe point within so that we're not constantly looking for outer safety that we can attach to. I see the spine as your values first and foremost. So I make sure that I always do core values work with my clients so we have that as a starting point. Then it's your...<br><br>body, your physical form. Okay, what is my body communicating? How am I taking care of my body? Like, what is here present in my body? And then third is your spiritual connection. I think it's important to have that something bigger outside of ourselves that we can connect with that provides that sense of hope. So I cultivate safety in those ways, connecting with my body, connecting with something bigger.<br><br>as a spiritual practice connecting with my core values. Within that, within the kind of connecting with your body, there's some service, some nervous system regulation techniques that I teach clients because I think it's a lot easier to hear our soul voice and our intuition when we're regulated. So many of us are walking around in like a pretty dysregulated state, heightened states of anxiety, lots of stress, lots of worry.<br><br>And so when we're able to kind of ground back in and create more stasis in the body, it's a lot easier to hear the voice and it creates safety around movement, taking action. And so that's another element of that. And then I think there's also just the element of taking small steps, doing this in small ways. Like we were talking about simple things like getting dressed in the morning. You can start building safety and trust by accessing<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (36:11.807)<br>your inner voice in ways that seem sort of inconsequential. Right, so it's like, okay, what color do I wanna wear today? What do I wanna eat for breakfast? You know, switching up your habits and routines and start consulting your soul voice about those things so that you can start building that trust and you have to complete the loop, right? It's like, go with the thing, go with the first thing that pops in the head, acknowledge that you're going with it and then pat yourself on the back and be like, okay, great, I followed this.<br><br>guidance and I didn't die and everything is great. And I can move on and ask another question.<br><br>Alara Sage (36:50.21)<br>love that so much because it is in those inconsequential choices that, for one, they just feel like they have a lot more breathing room, right? OK, choosing what shirt I put on today is not going to have a massive effect on my life. And so it gives us that availability and gives us that practice. And it's quite substantial how it<br><br>can really affect us, where maybe you weren't really thinking it affected you, but maybe you put on the blue shirt and down later on in the day, you're just like, I just really love this blue shirt, right? And it makes you smile. Or you're out and about, and somebody's like, oh, that's such a beautiful color on you. Not that we need external validation, but it's like, oh, see, yay. Like, my inner voice told me to wear this today, and I did it. And it's really bringing me joy, right? Or an example I had the other day.<br><br>was I went to go pick up my boys at the airport and my higher self was like, wear the green dress. And my mind immediately stepped in and was like, that's just silly, wear yoga pants and tennis shoes, it's so much more logical. My higher self was like, no, green dress and boots. And I was like, oh, I'm totally doing the green dress and boots, you know? And it was so much fun to wear and have, and my boys immediately acknowledged it because I had forgotten that they were with me when I bought that dress.<br><br>And so it's like the little things that we're not always aware of that, like, yeah, maybe it is inconsequential, but at the same time, those little moments like add to the joy of life. Right. And so I think that's such a profound tip for the audience that you just gave them, because that question I did give you was a loaded question. And yet we can still take these little moments to give ourselves permission.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (38:25.707)<br>right?<br><br>Alara Sage (38:41.066)<br>establish that self trust and see where and how it brings more joy, more availability, more presence to our life.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (38:49.247)<br>Well, in that example too, I love that example because it was something that wasn't really logical. It didn't make a lot of sense, right? Your intuition is like, okay, wear a dress and boots. And you're like, I'd much rather not. But you did it anyway. And it just added a layer of richness to your experience that you got to just like fully live into. And it had that ripple effect.<br><br>around you. I'm sure it's shifted your energy and the way that you showed up and just so many things and I think that's the beauty of this because it's also it's sort of like going to the gym right you're not gonna be in the gym on your first day lifting insanely heavy weights and expecting to be a pro at it right you have to start with the lighter weights and build yourself build work your way up to the heavier ones.<br><br>And so that's sort of what we have to do here. We have to build that muscle. We have to practice. And that's very trust building and safety building along the way. And I would say there's a second element to this that is a little bit deeper. And this has to do with that fear that you were talking about before. Because like you said, such a natural human experience. I often tell people, you know, if you weren't afraid, I'd be concerned about you.<br><br>We need to have that fear come up. That means our survival mechanism is working. All of those things are in check. And what most fears boil down to, and I'm qualifying this with the most here because there's definitely very survival related fear, but what most fears boil down to is a discomfort with feeling pain. So if we are able to kind of shift our relationship,<br><br>with pain and shift our relationship with our emotions and be more welcoming with all of these different aspects of our experience, then we're able to take more risks and we're able to trust that voice more because it's like, oh, okay, well, if I fall on my face, if this doesn't work out, if this doesn't go how I think it's gonna go, I trust myself to hold myself through that experience. I'm not afraid to fail.<br><br>Alara Sage (41:08.134)<br>Yeah, not afraid of failure, right? Because failure is so much a part of it. Just I love how you use the weightlifting. And I always talk about the baby's walking. Like when babies walk, they fall. If you're a mother watching your child fall and hit their face over and over and over again, you're just like, oh, my gosh. You want nothing more than to just hold them. But you can't. They need to learn how to walk. They need to learn how to fall.<br><br>They need to learn how to protect themselves while they fall. They need to learn that, hey, I fell because I didn't pick up my feet. They need to learn why they fell. That's all part of learning how to walk. And then they start running, and then they do it all over again. And they are running and they fall and flat onto their hands and their knees and all of that. And it's like, okay, now they're learning to run. And then it's like a progression, and we never just get it right 100% the first time. And when we do, oftentimes,<br><br>it can be this, like we don't really grasp the fullness of the learning from it. And we can later on, quote unquote, fall or fail. Because we had that kind of first run was easy. The first run was, they call it beginner's luck, but I think sometimes there's just that availability to us. But then we don't learn what is possible and the different elements to whatever that action is. And so I think it's.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (42:11.285)<br>Yeah.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (42:33.142)<br>Yeah.<br><br>Alara Sage (42:33.47)<br>So important to give ourselves compassion and space and permission to fail. And I love how you say the avoidance of discomfort. Because yeah, we have to be able to breathe into that, feel it in our bodies, and allow the feeling, but allow it through us. Allow it to just move through us, breathe it through our bodies. And I really love that you brought it back to fear because.<br><br>We're talking about little steps, and I've taken tremendous, I'm sure you have too, Mandy, tremendous leaps of faith off cliffs, where talk about the mind was like, what are you doing? You're going to die. You're going to get homeless. You're going to all the things. But the intuitive hit was so clear and so strong that I knew that I had to say yes to it regardless. And<br><br>So I think it's important, yes, we can take these little steps and if there's a strong intuitive hit, trust that you know how to dig deep, trust that you can dig deep, trust that you are supported.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (43:42.879)<br>Yeah, I think part of that too is kind of going back through your history.<br><br>And looking at places in your life where you've done that and you didn't even realize you were doing that. I think especially if we look back to our childhood, because children act so much more intuitively out of their essence, because they don't have all of that programming yet that's telling them the good and the bad and the should and the shouldn't. And so if we're able to kind of go back there and look at choices that we made and ways we expressed ourselves and things that we did as kids, it can remind us that,<br><br>had access to this and I've always been able to do this and you still can. I think a lot of times too the fear of failure at this stage in our lives when we're adults is more a fear of feeling than anything else and so that kind of goes back to what I was saying before about<br><br>building up that capacity to experience your emotions in healthy and helpful ways, not fall into them, but be able to feel them, process them, and not feel like you're going to drown in them so that we can continue to move forward and say, OK, this is something I'm willing to feel. There is nothing I'm not willing to feel at this stage. And that just opens the whole world up.<br><br>Alara Sage (45:05.97)<br>Yeah, which as you mentioned before, and I completely agree, is it has a lot to do with our nervous system. Disregulated nervous system literally can't experience and handle the wide spectrum of emotion like a regulated nervous system can. So yeah, I completely agree with that. So Mandy, how can people reach you, connect with you, find you?<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (45:30.003)<br>Well, as you stated before, my last name is Shaketano, which is kind of a tricky one. So for social media on Instagram, I'm just Mandy.Shok, S-H-O-C-K. That was a nickname as a teenager. And again, this was an intuitive thing where when I started my Instagram, I was saying, oh, I should do something so that people know I'm an energy worker, I'm a coach, this and that.<br><br>But I just wanted to keep it playful and kind of go back to my essence, who I am at my core. So that's mandy.shock. That's who I am. My website is mandyshockatano.com and I actually have a link there to a free download where it's just a quick 10 minute ritual that you can do using breath work.<br><br>and a couple of writing prompts that can help you sort of tap into that soul voice if you need a launching point, a starting point, a quick little breathwork exercise, and some prompts that can help you really discern between what's the drama in your brain and what is the soul intuitive voice that's coming through.<br><br>Alara Sage (46:36.59)<br>Mm, wonderful. I love that shock. I actually see like a little like lightning bolt.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (46:45.267)<br>Yes. Yeah, that was actually on the back of our jerseys. My sister and I growing up, you know, they couldn't fit our whole last name on the back of a jersey, so they would just put shock and sometimes a little lightning bolt next to it. It was our little symbol that delineated us. So yeah, it's fun.<br><br>Alara Sage (47:05.787)<br>I love that. Okay, so it's time for our activation.<br><br>And so I always invite listeners to join as much as you can in this moment. If you're driving or not in a space where you can be fully present and close your eyes, you can still receive to the level that you're available to and then just come back and repeat it when you're more present. And there's nothing ever during these that you have to feel. Just really trusting in your body and in your wisdom and knowing that regardless if you feel a lot or you feel a little, you'll still<br><br>receiving the energies. So let's begin. Let's go ahead and close our eyes. And let's just go ahead and start by just taking some nice deep breaths into our body and allowing yourself to follow your breath, feeling the air come into your body, feeling the air.<br><br>leave your body and just following that breath for a few breaths, allowing yourself to come with your awareness more into your body more into the present moment.<br><br>Alara Sage (48:24.662)<br>Hmm. Yes, excellent. And we're going to drop our awareness down to our root chakra located at our perineum and connecting here to Mother Gaia, which is below us, connecting us to the mother of our being. Just breathing there at your root chakra. So holding your focus at your perineum.<br><br>And taking a couple of breaths here as we invite the root chakra to open. Oh, and as this is opening, just feel if there's any tension in your body that's ready to let go. And just breathe it out as you begin to open up and ground in, grounding into your body and grounding into the presence of the mother.<br><br>letting the tension release your physical body, letting the tension release your emotional and mental bodies. And breathing in, receiving this energy through your root chakra, you can breathe it up from your root. Breathe the energy up from your root into your heart and exhale.<br><br>Breathing the energy up from your root into your heart and exhale. Beautiful. Again, we're releasing any and all tension out of the bodies. Beautiful. Now taking your awareness to the crown, to the father, as we invite the crown chakra at the top of your head.<br><br>to open and just take some breaths there as you begin to open to the Father above opening and receiving from the Father above. And breathing now as you breathe in, you're drawing that energy down into your heart. exhaling releasing, breathing in drawing the energy down to your heart.<br><br>Alara Sage (50:32.958)<br>Exhale, releasing. Wonderful. And now we're going to drop our awareness into the heart. So take your focus to your heart. And this is the energy of the child. This is the child within. This is you. This is you as the bridge, the bridge between the heaven above and the earth below, the bridge between the ethereal and the finite, the bridge between the father and the mother.<br><br>So now just feeling your breath in your heart, feeling as if you're breathing directly into your heart and feel that breath moving in and out. Ah, there of your heart as we invite now the front heart chakra and the back heart chakras to open. Ah, opening as you inhale, opening and expanding those chakras, opening and expanding the electromagnetic field of your heart.<br><br>exhaling, you're letting go, exhaling, you are letting go of any tension and really holding your presence here, holding the presence, knowing that right now, right now you are connected, you are connected to your soul's voice, you are connected to all that is here in your heart, the all that is here in your heart. So bringing in that awareness, bringing in that recognition and breathing.<br><br>And now we're going to open the space up for question, for inquiry, for something that you want to pray for. We're going to hold this space as you ask this question, as you pray or as you inquire. I'm going to bring in some sound. I'm going to bring in some sound to amplify your inquiry, amplify your prayer.<br><br>And as we spoke about just holding a space of no expectation, just breathing, asking, praying, whatever feels right to you, holding your focus at your heart.<br><br>Alara Sage (52:31.141)<br>Yeah<br><br>Alara Sage (52:50.006)<br>Yeah<br><br>Alara Sage (53:13.066)<br>Nice deep breath and into the heart. We're going to go a little bit deeper opening up the heart space more. Hold the intention of your question. Hold the intention of your prayer. Opening the heart chakras more opening deeper into the heart chakras now in the template of the heart.<br><br>Alara Sage (53:42.481)<br>Yeah<br><br>Alara Sage (54:11.97)<br>Let's do nice three nice deep cleansing breaths in through the nose into your heart out through your mouth.<br><br>Alara Sage (54:32.046)<br>Just with that conviction at your heart space, with that conviction, knowing that you will receive the answer to your question. You will receive the answer to your inquiry. You will receive the answer to your prayer, holding that energy of conviction in your heart for one more nice deep breath.<br><br>Yes, beautiful. Yes, yes, yes. And so it is and so it is and so it is by the power of three, the divine perfection. It is complete. Oh, go ahead and open your eyes. Mandy, my love, such a delicious conversation that we've had here today.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (55:25.195)<br>That was so juicy. Thank you for the space, for the activation, just for riffing with me. It's such a delight and definitely filled me right up.<br><br>Alara Sage (55:27.556)<br>Mmm.<br><br>Alara Sage (55:36.554)<br>Yeah, I feel like you and I could just talk all day long and we'd be like on the same way length the whole time. I felt like we were totally just on the same thought with each other. I would think of something and then you would answer it. And it was just, yeah, perfect.<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (55:42.141)<br>And then, and then...<br><br>Mandy Sciacchitano (55:52.831)<br>Those are my favorite types of conversations.<br><br>Alara Sage (55:55.794)<br>Yes, excellent day.<br><br>OK, audience, make sure that you share this episode, because as I mentioned, we all desire, we all seek that guidance. And sometimes we do need that clarity of what that looks like. How do we ensure that connection? How do we take action on what we receive? So make sure to share this episode with people that you know would enjoy it, and maybe even people that you're not sure, but you have the intuitive hit that tells you it's what they need, right?<br><br>And as always, be sure that you're subscribed. And you know, I have the two episodes a week, the solo episodes on Tuesday, where it's just me and you, the audience and me, and the guest episodes every Thursday, as well as we have a Facebook group, the Ecstatic Woman podcast community, where I'm bringing the guests in for a little bit extra intimate moment to spend with them. And it's a really great place for you. You can connect to them directly.<br><br>as well as just receive bonus information and insights. So be sure to join that. And until next time, I love you all so very much.<br><br>Alara Sage (57:05.71)<br>Okay, so we'll see.<br><br><br></p>
